Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena

Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena Region XII Magallanes
Symbols
flag coat of arms
Basic data
Country	Chile
Capital	Punta Arenas
surface	1,382,911 km²
Residents	166,533 (2017)
density	0.1 inhabitants per km²
ISO 3166-2	CL-MA
Website	www.goremagallanes.cl (Spanish)
politics
Intendant	Christian Matheson
The lighthouse of Isla Magdalena in the Strait of Magellan

Coordinates: 53 °  S , 71 °  W

The Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (Region XII; German region of Magellan and the Chilean Antarctica ) is the southernmost region in Chile . It consists of two parts, the Magallanes region and the Chilean Antarctica , which has been claimed by Chile since 1940. It covers an area of ​​132,291.1 km² (excluding the Chilean Antarctic with 1,250,000 km²) and 166,533 inhabitants (including Antarctica) according to the 2017 census. The capital of the region is Punta Arenas .

Magallanes is named after Ferdinand Magellan , who discovered the Strait of Magellan in 1520 . Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego are the most famous regions in this area. Magallanes borders the XI Aisén region to the north and Argentina to the east . The Strait of Magellan is the region's main gateway to the Atlantic .

history

The first Paleo-Indians came as early as 9800 BC. BC and 8280 BC To Tierra del Fuego. In the 17th century, at the time of the arrival of the first Europeans in Tierra del Fuego, four groups of indigenous people can be distinguished: the land nomads of the Selk'nam (Onas) and the Haush (or: Manek'enk), who live in the interior or in the south-west settled on the main island and the sea nomads the Alakaluf and the Yámana (Yaghan), who lived on the western and southern coastline. The exact number of the individual population groups can be estimated at a total of 12,000 for the 17th century due to their way of life as hunters and gatherers.

The Portuguese captain general Ferdinand Magellan discovered this Strait of Magellan while circumnavigating the world with a fleet of five ships and a crew of 237. On October 21, 1520, the day of the 11,000 virgins, Magellan sighted a cape near the 52nd parallel and called it "Cape of the Virgins" - Cabo Virgenes . A terrible storm that lasted more than 36 hours drove two of his ships into a bay on All Saints' Day (November 1), 1520, which later proved to be a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Magellan first gave this canal the name Estreito de Todos los Santos (All Saints' Day Canal).

A landing party was dispatched to the north coast, in that harsh and cold place Magellan had previously called Patagonia. But apart from an old tomb with two hundred human skeletons, the sailors could not find anything. In the south of the strait, however, reports Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler, “we saw many fires at night”. The captain general called the country accordingly "Tierra del Fuego", land of fire.

Historical map of the Strait of Magellan

Juan Fernández Ladrillero explored the area around the Strait of Magellan in 1557. The Spaniards began building small military bases on the Strait of Magellan in 1579. The place Puerto Hambre was founded in March 1584 by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa and was then called Rey Don Felipe . The first Spanish settlers died of starvation due to the barren vegetation. The English pirate Thomas Cavendish found the ruins of the settlement in 1587. Around 300 settlers were either starved to death or frozen to death.

Fuerte Bulnes was founded in 1843 . Among the founders was the German naval officer Bernhard Philippi (Spanish: Bernardo Philippi) as the expedition's scientific assistant. This company ensured the incorporation of the Strait of Magellan into the territory of Chile.

In 1848 Fuerte Bulnes moved to the better situated Punta Arenas. This was followed by the creation of the Future 1894, Puerto Natales in 1911 and Puerto Williams 1,953th

The adventurer and captain Hermann Eberhard traveled to West Patagonia in 1892 and founded the first German settlement in southern Chile called Puerto Consuelo . There he built a large sheep farm. In 1895 he discovered the skeleton of a giant sloth in the cave of Milodon west of the Torres del Paine National Park . The cave is now one of the most visited tourist destinations in the Puerto Natales area. In honor of Hermann Eberhard, a fjord was named after him, the Fjordo Eberhard . In Chile, Eberhard is considered one of the great personalities in developing the Magallanes region.

From 1893, the border problems with Argentina worsened after Bolivia had ceded part of the Puna de Atacama to Argentina. This had been occupied by Chile since the Saltpeter War. There was an arms race between Chile and Argentina. Only the British King Edward VII was able to settle the border dispute in 1902. Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego were redistributed; 54,000 km² of this fell to Chile and 40,000 km² to Argentina.

The Beagle conflict escalated in December 1978 with argentine threats against Chile. The islands of Lennox, Picton and Nueva in the Beagle Channel became a point of contention, especially as the area was believed to have larger oil reserves. The dispute was only peacefully settled through the mediation of Pope John Paul II . The friendship and peace treaty of 1984 between Chile and Argentina was signed in Rome on November 29, 1984 and later ratified in both countries.

Administrative structure

Provinces and municipalities of Region XII

Region XII consists of four provinces with 11 municipalities (Comunas) :

Provinces

province	Capital	Area (km²)	Population (2012)	Communities
Magallanes	Punta Arenas	38,400.8	128.199	4th
Antártica Chilena	Puerto Williams	1,265,853.7	1,792	2
Tierra del Fuego	Porvenir	22,592.7	6,656	3
Última Esperanza	Puerto Natales	55,443.9	18,685	2

Settlements

The most important cities and towns are (number of inhabitants according to the 2002 census, each actual core settlement):

• Punta Arenas , 116,005 inhabitants
• Puerto Natales , 16,978 inhabitants
• Porvenir , 4,734 inhabitants
• Puerto Williams , 1,952 residents

List of municipalities

Palacio José Montes, seat of the municipal administration of Punta Arenas

local community	province	Area (km²)	Population (2012)
Antartica	Antártica Chilena	1,250,000.0	115
Cabo de Hornos	Antártica Chilena	15,853.7	1,677
Laguna Blanca	Magallanes	3,695.6	208
Natales	Última Esperanza	48,974.2	18,505
Porvenir	Tierra del Fuego	6,982.6	5,907
Primavera	Tierra del Fuego	4,614.2	545
Punta Arenas	Magallanes	17,846.3	127.454
Río Verde	Magallanes	9,975.2	153
San Gregorio	Magallanes	6,883.7	384
Timaukel	Tierra del Fuego	10,995.9	204
Torres del Paine	Última Esperanza	6,469.7	180

Geography and climate

Torres del Paine (Province of Última Esperanza)

The west coast of Magallanes is criss-crossed by many islands, the largest of which is Tierra del Fuego . Large parts of the north of the region on the Argentine border are glaciated and lie in the huge Bernardo O'Higgins National Park . Probably the most famous national park in Chile is the Torres del Paine national park north of Puerto Natales.

Cape Horn at the "end of the world"

Punta Arenas is on the Brunswick Peninsula on the Strait of Magellan; it is the most important and largest city in the region. Then Tierra del Fuego begins, the western and southern parts of which belong to Chile; here is the city of Porvenir. Allegedly the southernmost city in the world, Puerto Williams is located on the island of Navarino . Chile has access to the Atlantic via the Strait of Magellan .

The Cordillera Darwin Mountains , with almost 2500 m high mountains, form the last major mountain range of the Andes in South America.

The southernmost point of Chile are the Diego Ramírez Islands , around 100 km south of Cape Horn .

The annual temperatures in Punta Arenas fluctuate around 6 ° C, the rainfall is spread over the whole year, falling about 425 mm / year. In the area of ​​the Andes and glaciers there are already icy temperatures; here the amounts of rain are already quite high at 2000 mm / year. They are even higher on the west coast with up to 3500 mm / year.

tourism

Tierra del Fuego and Torres del Paine are certainly the most frequented tourist destinations. Punta Arenas is usually the starting point for excursions by ferry or plane. Puerto Williams serves as the starting point for Cape Horn , the Chilean Antarctica and the penguin colonies.

economy

In addition to tourism, the main sources of income are raw materials such as oil , natural gas , limestone and coal .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas , División Político Administrativa y Censal 2007, Santiago 2008, p. 263
2. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas , Resultados XVIII Censo de Población 2012, Tomo 1, Santiago 2014, p. 58
3. ↑ Chile: Regions and Agglomerations - Population Statistics, Maps, Graphics, Weather and Web Information. Retrieved April 14, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas , División Político Administrativa y Censal 2007, Santiago 2008, p. 269 f.
5. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas , Resultados XVIII Censo de Población 2012, Tomo 1, Santiago 2014, p. 58
6. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas , División Político Administrativa y Censal 2007, Santiago 2008, p. 270
7. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas , División Político Administrativa y Censal 2007, Santiago 2008, p. 269 f.
8. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas , Resultados XVIII Censo de Población 2012, Tomo 1, Santiago 2014, p. 58 f.

Web links

Commons : Region Magallanes y Antártica Chilena  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Government of the Magallanes region